The Georgia Aquarium, located in the heart of Atlanta, is the largest aquarium in the world.  It is reputed to have more than 8.1 million gallons of water and to be home to more than 500 different species, including whale sharks, beluga whales, sea anemones, sea horses, and otters.

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It’s so wonderful that all the best scenes out of the cinema somehow find their way onto YouTube.  This scene from “Strangers on a Train” has so much going on that I barely know where to begin.   On watching this again, I was struck by the recurring motif of wheels in motion.  There is the carousel, the Ferris wheel, and even the motor on the popcorn machine.  I think it’s a metaphor for the central idea of the theme–the two strangers who meet on the train, and then their lives just spin around each other–and then out of control.

The other thing I love in this scene is the tamped-down sexuality of it, and how sexual innocence dances with sexual brutality.  The music, “Casey Would Waltz with the Strawberry Girl,” harkens back to a more innocent time.  For whatever reason, Bruno (Robert Walker) has to seduce this woman before murdering her.  The woman’s glasses mask her wanton sexuality.  It takes place in the innocence of a carnival. Her licking the ice cream cone is sensual as well as childlike.   Note how Bruno has to pop the kid’s balloon.  Note that the woman is checking Bruno out as he is clamping his muscular hands to prep for grabbing the hammer and ringing the bell.  These are the same hands he will later strangle her with.  And the murder being reflected in  her glasses sends shivers down my spine.  Enjoy the insidious sadism and misogyny  that are Hitchcock at his best.

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When the usher let us in, I saw that the space was fairly typical of off-off Broadway Theatre—that is, tiny. Inside the dark, hot, dusty room were four rows of two columns of five folding chairs arranged on a platform with four small tiers. The smell of sawdust was in the air. Natasha’s eyes widened. The last thing we had gone to see together was “Cats.”

Unlike a Broadway show, here there was no predicting what it would be like. It could be an amazing play. It could be a piece of crap. It could be an amazing piece of crap. Among us 25 audience members, there was sort of a shared anxiousness of not knowing. Going to a seedy little theatre like this one was akin to what I imagined it would have been like to visit a speakeasy in the 1920s. The cast and audience were conspiring to create a little secret society with rules of our own. (continue reading…)

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Anne, one of the Chucklehead writers, posted this video on my Facebook wall  this morning. I tried to contact various Chuckleheads to find out if it was really OUR Chuckleheads.  Ronnie wrote me a message back saying “Of COURSE it’s us–do you think anyone would be impersonating us?

The back story’s this:  Back in the 1980s, there was a discount electronics chain in New York called “Crazy Eddie.”  Dean Friedman would end every commercial with “Crazy Eddie–his prices are INSANE!”  So, they hired Chucklehead actors to dress up as reindeer, etc., and dance in the background.  Well, Dean is back in action with the “Crazy Eddie” song and he successfully reunited some of the Chuckleheads to be part of the act.  I’ve got just one word for all of this:  INSANE!!!!

For more about Chucklehead and the book Rob wrote about the troupe, visit http://talesofthetroupe.wordpress.com.

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This video, taped in 1985 and plugged between live skits, was something of a standby for a while. As always, taping on the streets of New York was fun because innocent bystanders had no idea what was going on.) Videos like these allowed we writers to get into the act. (That’s me, looking for a handout in the first scene, and bums became my trademark role.)  Among those playing Trivial Pursuit in the second scene are writers Bruce Handy (with the People Prod), Margot Sheehan, and Robert Leighton (asleep).

For more about Chucklehead and Rob’s book, go to http://talesofthetroupe.wordpress.com

This followed on the heels of another product called Lazee Blaze, essentially a fire alarm with a “Snooze” option.

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This fake ad was from Chuckelehead’s last show, “Stocks and Prawns,” written as an ensemble with mixed results. This video actually introduces Sea Captain Frank, played by Cubby. We shot it off the Staten Island Ferry in early December, and developed quite an audience doing it.

In reality, Sea Captain Frank is a terrible alcoholic, and runs the tanker into a reef. This happened right after the Exxon-Valdez disaster, and I was very wary of making Sea Captain Frank a carbon copy of Hazelwood–so I gave him the added quirk of his buggering his men when they’re at the helm. Yeah, it was a cheap laugh but an effective one.

To learn more about Chucklehead and Rob’s book about it, visit http://talesofthetroupe.wordpress.com.

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This was meant to be a much longer piece but, much like Werner Herzog’s “Fitzcarraldo” and Terry Gilliam’s doomed “Man of La Mancha,” it was hit with obstacles of epic proportions. Much of it was shot on Super-8 in New Jersey and Central Park, but then the Super-8 camera got stolen. I have only vague memories of shooting this. Having a guy bring a suitcase on a hike was a nice touch, and I believe it was Jay’s idea. As for Craggy John’s hawk friend Mojave flying, there was a lot of conjecture on how it was done? Built-in remote-control airplane? Stop-action animation? A matte shot? The simple truth is that Mohave’s right wing was on a stick. I believe Mark Sarto, who played Craggy John, actually assembled Mojave, as he was the silly propmeister for the troupe. I don’t know whether it’s clear from this footage, but the original premise was that Craggy John put the campers in harm’s way so that he could save their lives. But, over the course of it all, he became more and more injured. And so he sent Mojave off to attack them out of revenge. At least, that’s the way I remember it. Note the severed hand. Whenever things got slow, we’d have Mark cut off his hand. My favorite was when he was playing a nerd taking a class in making sushi in “The Learning Hut.” Distracted by a beautiful nerdette played by Ronnie, he lets the knife slip and, well, you get the picture.

For more about Chucklehead and Tales of the Troupe, visit http://talesofthetroupe.wordpress.com

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A disco rendition of “Thus Spake Zarathustra” was blasting over the loudspeakers as spotlights zig-zagged across the dance floor.  “Ladies and Gentlemen, put your hands together for the lady who made this all possible, Ms. Gloria Leonard!”  Standing at the edge of the dance floor, I watched four muscle-bound men in loin cloths enter carrying a throne.  On it was seated a 50-something-year-old woman in a G-string, who had a killer body and a striking face, but perhaps a little too much make-up.  The four men carried her up to the small stage where the microphone was, and simultaneously lifted her onto the stage.

“Ladies and gentlemen, thank you all for cumming!” she said, to thunderous applause.

A wave of surreality hit me.  What was I doing here? (continue reading…)

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